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Book 



AN ESSAY 

ON THE POLICY OF 

APPROPRIATIONS BEING MADE BI 
THE (30 VERMMEKT OP THE XJNITED STATE}?, 

FOR PURCHASING, LIBERifflNG AND COLONIZING 

WITHOUT THE TERRITORY OF THE SAID STATES, 
THE SLAVES THEREOF, 

IN NUMBERS, 

SOME OF WHICH HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN fHB 

BALTIMORE AMERICAN, 

AND THE VVHOLi; CF V^EM IN THE 

GENIUS OF UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION. 



fiY A CITIZEN OF MARYLAND. 



/^H^l^^S^^^ ^^' 



Baltimore; 

Y BENJAM 
No. 61, South Calvert Street, 

****** 
1826. 



w 



I'^uJ.ft 



ADVERTrSEMENT. 

The test three numbeis of the following essay were published in the 
Baltimore American of the 7th and 14th of July, 1826, and the 2nd of Au 
gust following. The fourth number was given to the publishers of that paper 
early in the ensuing September, and after remaining with them about two 
or three weeks, they alleging, that from the press of other matter they 
could not give it an insertion, the writer took it back, having no expectation 
of that and the other numbers being inserted in that paper in any reasonable 
time. The whole of the numbers have been inserted in the Baltimore 
Genius of Universal Emancipation. 

THE AUTHOR, 



W. >^\.A^*«^ ajt A 



fage 13, line 38, For than, read that. 
J 6, line 9, For and, read all. 

line 20, For national, read natural. 
19, omit the 5th line, beginning with the word,«tates, 
27, line 14, For 12,4-220912, read 12,4320912. 
line 23, For 29,7906819, read 29^905819. 



AN ESSAY, &c. 



JUSIZiSE, NO. 1. 

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

United States, July 4th, 1S26. 
Friends and Fellow- Citizens. 

. A period of fifty years, a whole jubilee period, has elapsed, 
since you have become an independent nation; and as jubilees 
seem to have been originally intended as stated periods, for remo- 
ving any oppressions and redressing any grievances, which may 
have existed or occurred during the preceding period, and advan- 
cing any improvements which may appear necessary or expedi- 
ent to be adopted; it behoves'us, to look back, and consider, in 
what respects the rights, happiness and prosperity of the human 
species have been advanced, during the preceeding jubilee pe- 
riod, and what still remams to be done, in order to promote and 
secure those rights, and that happiness and prosperity, which 
are or ought to be the great end of all human associations and 
governments. 

The past jubi'ee period commenced with a declaration of the 
independence of this country, then consisting of thirteen states, 
which had previously been in a state of colonial dependence on 
a nation and government about three thousand miles distant 
from them! and this measure was unanimously adopted by them, 
in consequence of an attempt made and persevered in by the pa- 
rent nation, to exert arbitrary rule and taxation over them,with 
circumstances of great atrocity, and an unfeeling disregard of 
their repeated petitions for redress. That independence was ef- 
fected, after a war of about seven years, waged under circum- 
stances of very great difficulties, privations,and embarrassments. 
These states soon after voluntarily united themselves under a gen- 
eral government, reserving to their own local governments, the 
power of managing their local coneerns. This state of things 
has now lasted nearly forty years, with an increase of population 
wealth and power unprecedented in the annals of (he world, and 
with all the liberty and security of those states & the individuals 
composing them, of which human society seems capable. 

But was there not a very great evil existing in our country,at the 
commencement of this period? was not nearly a fifth part of 
the whole population in a state of slavery to the residue? an e- 
vil entailed on that enslaved population and their postcvily; and 



was there not s^ill a source of augmentation of this ctil both by na- 
tural increase Siby a continued importation of a similar popula- 
tion? Were our forefathers,the supporters of our independence & 
framers of our present constitution, unobservent of, or inattentive 
to this evil? By no means. The framer of our declaration of in- 
dependence, Mr. JetTerson, & one of the first & warmest cham- 
pions of our independence, Mr. Heury,both members of a slave 
holding state, with many others, bear clear and honorable testi- 
mony to the magnitude of the evil. Butwhat could be done? — 
The legislators of the slave-holding states were themselves gen- 
erally slave-holders to a considerable extent, and much of their 
means of comfort and opulence depended on that kind of prop- 
erty; and so necessary did they consider laborers of that des- 
cription to them, that those members of the convention which 
formed the federal constitution, who wished the abolition of the 
slave trade, could not prevail on the members, from the southern 
states, to authorise congress to prohibit the importation of slaves 
till 1808, upwards of 20 years after its formation, alleging that 
they could not, from their arrangemeuts,dispense with the impor- 
tation of them, for that time. Congress however, acting oh the 
power granted them, has prohibited the importation since tlie 
£rst day of the year 1 808, has made the slave trade piracy, has 
employed vessels to obstruct that trade, has purchased a territo- 
ry of considerable extent to accommodate such slaves as may 
be taken from slave vessels, having appropriated for that pur- 
pose a sum of one hundred thousand dollars, and in conjunction 
with theAmerican society for colonizing the free people of colour 
of the United Slates, a colony has been founded on the coast of 
Africa in a very healthy situation, and v/hich has advanced with 
uninterrupted success and unexampled rapidity for upwards of 
four years since its first settlement at Monrovia, at the mouth of 
Mesurado river, and its possessions must now occupy nearly 200 
miles of a very fertile sea coast. 

Thus far much has beea done, if not for the removal, at least 
for the diminution of the evil; a further importation has, as 
far as goverimient could effect it, been prevented; a settlement in 
their original country, where their persons and property will be 
protected, has been provided for such as are free, or may be libe- 
rated by their owners. 

Such has been the case as respects our own nation; and if wc 
view the state of other countries, we find also cause cf joy and 
exultation. Almost the whole of this extensive continent of A- 
merica has, from dependent colonies, become free and indepen- 
dent republican .^tatcsj in which slavery is cither almost or alto- 



gether abolished; almost all the civilized 'powers of the worltl, 
and by far the greatest maritime pouer among them, have joined 
ia the suppression of that scourge of Africa, the slave trade; and 
though it is still carried on to a consiilerable extent by one or 
two European nations, yet there appears lo be a fair prospect of 
that infamous trade being soon annihilated. A powerful colcny 
has been established by Great Britain adjacent to ours, with sim- 
ilar views of civilizing Africa, of bringing them to the use of ma- 
king their support by industry, instead oi doing it by enslaving 
each other, and of obstructing and annihilating the slave trade. 
The annihilation of the slave trade seems a prelude to that of 
slavei'y. The government of Cireat Britain, by far the most ex- 
tensive holder of slave colonics, have declared a determination 
of removing the evil, and are taking eflicient measures for the 
purpose. One extensive and populous West India islaiid, consis- 
ting of a coloured population, has become an independent nation. 
Greece, that once great and celebrated country, the cradle of 
the arts and sciences, has, for several years past, made such a 
brave resistance against their tyranical rulers, as leaves hardly a 
doubt of their final independence. Sunday schools have clis- 
seminated,much more extensively than formerly, the blessings of 
education and information, and missionaries are actively diiTu- 
singlhc benefits of religion and civilization among nations hith- 
erto unenlightened. SIDNEY. 



Having in my preceding number, falcen a brief view of the 
principal events tending to the amelioration of the state of the 
human family, which have taken place among ourselves, and in 
other parts of the world, during the jubilee period just elapsed; 
it remains, that we inquire, what we of the present day, ought to 
do for the same purpose ; but before I proceed to thatsubject, I 
shall speak briefly of the scripture regulations respecting human 
rights and liberty, and especially respecting the jubilee. 

These regulations are f'ounded on the personal rights of man. 
The history of the creation of man, in the 1st and rid chnptcrs of 
Genesis, merits our particular attention ; for wliereas it is said, 
that God commanded the waters to bring forth the fish and fowl : 
and the earth, the cattle and creeping things and beasts of the 
earth after their kinds, and that he made them ; of man it is 
said, that he made him in his own image, after his own likeness,, 
that he breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a liv- 



ing soul; all which naturally infers,' what the holy scriptures as« 
sares us 'is the fact, that he is immortal: we find also that he 
was to have dominion over all other living creatures, see Genesis, 
J. 26 andii. 7. All this is conformable to that solemn passage in 
the declaration of our independence : " We hold these truths 
" to be self-evident— that all men are created equal, that they are 
" endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that 
"' among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 

But we find, on the fall of man, his labour became necessary 
for his subsistence ; one of the penalties of the fall is, that in the 
sweat of his face, he should eat bread, Genesis, iii. 19. Hence 
it comes to pass, that sometimes he tills the gi-ound to obtain a 
subsistence for himself and family ; sometimes applies his la- 
bour to provide some convenience of food, raiment, ornament, 
improvement or gratification for others, for which he obtains 
from them, what he considers necessary or useful to himself ; 
and sometimes he finds it more convenient, to engage his person- 
al labours to others, for what he considers a sufficiently valuable 
consideration, and what the employer is willing to give him for 
them. As labour is the principal support of the poor, the in- 
•junction of paying the hireling his hire vvithout delay, is particu- 
larly enjoined, see Deuteronomy xxiv. 15, and James v. 4. So 
far was a man, under the old testament lavvs, from bemg enabled 
to sell the labour of his posterity, that he could not engage his 
own labour for a longer time than six years, in the seventh year 
he was at liberty to go off. Exodus, xxi. 2, The cases in, and 
conditions on which, he could then, with his own free will, bind 
himself for a longer time, are mentioned in a few of the follow- 
ing verses of that chapter, and are unnecessary to be mentioned 
in this essay ; only it may be well to observe, that as this law of 
not permitting a man to be bound for a longer time than six 
years, seems founded on the idea .of the seventh being a 
sabbatical year, and that founded on the circumstance of the 
creation of the world having been accomplished in six days, and 
God's resting on the seventh, a circumstance which we must sup- 
pose to have been well known to Abraham and the patriarchs, 
the institution of the Sabbath day being sanctified to be kept holy, 
having taken place immediately on the creation. Genesis, ii. 3, 
)t is probable, that freeing a servant come to the age of maturity 
in his seventh year, was observed by those patriarchs \ and there- 
fore, when we read of Abraham's servants born in his house, and 
bought with his money. Genesis, xiv. 14 and xvii. 23 and 27 ver- 
ses, it is probable, their service was to a certain age ; or for a 
ferni of years ; especially too, as we find, that they were initia- 



(ed into the trne religion by circumcision, as appears from tli« 
verses just cited. It is observable also, that the term for which 
Jacob twice bound himself to Laban for Rachel was seven years^ 
Genesis, xxix. 18 and 30. How far they were permitted to 
vary from this rule, with respect to strangers and the inhabitants 
of the idolatrous nations about them, is immaterial to us under 
the Christian dispensation, the partition wall between Jew and 
Gentile being removed, and the gospel freely offered to all na- 
tions, and to every individual of them. The rights of man in a 
political capacity were, by the scripture regulations,guarded with 
equal care. And although their government degenerated into a 
hereditary monarchy, yet it appears from SamuePs conduct, on 
the application o^ the Israelites to him j for a king, that it was by 
no means consistent with their duty or interest to have asked for 
one; as the eminent Algernon Sidney, who was, under abused 
forms of law, put to death by the arbitrary Charles the 2d, for 
his attachment to the rights of man, has well observed, in his ex-^ 
cellentwork on g-overnments. The evils and inconveniences of 
such a ruler are described very fully by Samuel on that occasion. 
1 Samuel, viii. 11 — 17 ; and in the laws of Moses, the 
Israelites were directed, if they would have a king, that the office 
should not be hereditary. Deuteronomy, xvii. 15. 

As the settlement of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, was 
designed to keep up the knowledge of the true religion, amidst 
the general prevalence of idolatry among the nations about 
them ; in order to preserve the inheritance of the different tribes 
from being alienated, and falling into the hands of other nations 
or tribes; they were not permitted, to sell their land for a longer 
time, than till the year of Jubilee, which took place every fiftieth 
year. Leviticus, xxv. 10 and 11. Other indulgences took place 
in this year of Jubilee, for which see the whole S5th chapter of 
Leviticus, also Numbers, xxxvi. 4. 

And although the observation of a Jubilee is not directly ert- 
joined under the Christian dispensation; yet there is no doubt^ 
the institutions of the old one, were designed as admonitions, 
patterns and examples to professors under the new. Let it be 
considered moreover, that the great end of all these Institutions, 
is declared, m Holy Writ itself, to be, the good and benefit of 
the human race ; there w^e are assured, that the Lord desires 
mercy and not sacrifice, Hosea, vi. 6 ; and speaking of the peo" 
pie's formal manner of observing a fast, it is said, '' Is it such a 
*^ fast that I have chosen ? a day for a man to afflict his soul, is it 
" to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sack-cloth and 
" ashes uuder hira ? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable 



'* day to the Lonl ? Is not this the fast thai. I have chosen— to 
'■'loose the bands of Avickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and 
" to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke ? Is 
" it not, to deal thy biead to the hungry, and that thou bring the 
" poor to thy house ? Wlien thou seest the naked, that thou cover 
"him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine ovrn flesh r" 
Isaiah Iviii. 5—7. And in Christ's description of the final judg- 
ment, in Matthew 25th, we find benevolent acts done to the least 
of those whom the Lord vouchsafes to call his brethren, consid- 
ered as done unto himself As it is then an obvious duty, to ex- 
amine from time to time, and at stated periods, our situation and 
conduct, that we may correct our errors, and make the lapses of 
the time past, serve as warnings for the time to come; and as a 
period of fifty years, seems a convenient one for that purpose, 
and is warranted by divine institution; we shall assuredly not lose 
our reward, if we make a pecuhar attention to this period, an 
occasion of future correct and benevolent conduct; which would 
be our duty /independent of any particular consideration of time 

SIDNEY. 



Though I have, in my preceding number, mentioned, that un- 
der the old dispensation, the people were not permitted to keep 
their brethren in servitude beyond the seventh year, and that the 
patriarchs were probably governed by a similar rule; yet I well 
know, that there is sufficient evidence to shew, that under the 
Jewish dispensation servitude existed, at least in the case of the 
Gibeonites, wlio however had surrendered themselves volunta- 
rily to avoid extermination, and were made hewers of wood and 
drawers of water, for the service of the altar and of the house of 
iio(]. Joshua, ix. This seems little like domestic slavery, or in 
origin like ours; that being a voluntary surrender of themselves 
and their services, to avoid a destruction, to which, on account of 
their wickedness, they had been doomed ; the origin of ours be- 
ing, on the part of the injured, involuntary, and generally no bet- 
ter than man-stealing. The Israelites were themselves slaves in 
Egypt ; of course, Avlicn they came out of it, they could have had 
none, and they were required to suffer no strangers to reside 
among them, unless they were circumcised and became obedi- 
ent to their law; when they, by the Mosaical institutions, became 
entitled to freedom in the seventh year, and in the year of Jubi- 
lee, as I have mentioned. In fact there appears to be very littJ* 



in favor of slayery under the Jewish dispensation, nov do the peo- 
ple seem to ha»e been permitted to make slaves of prisoners ta- 
ken in war, or to have been in the habit of so doino;. But sup- 
posing it was permitted or practised under the Jewish dispensa- 
tion, does that prove that it would be rii:;ht or lawful under ours ? 
In Christ's sermon on the mount, in Matthew, v. ri. and vii. chap- 
ters, his hearers are repeatedly reminded, that, what was said by 
them of old time, was by no means a sufficient rule for their con- 
duct. The old law allowed arbitrary divorces, and a plurality of 
wives, all which is contrary to the original institution of marriage, 
as he shews with respect to the former. There are many other 
cases, wherein, in the same discourse, it was required of his fol- 
lowers not to imitate the rules and practices of former times. — 
A like observation is applicable to the case of slavery. No truth 
is more manifest, from the recital of man's creation in scripture, 
than that all men are created equal, are raidowed by their Crea- 
tor with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It follows, that no human 
bping, come to the ajje of maturity, can justly be deprived of his 
liberty, unless for crime ; or^ in any othc case be compelled to 
labor for another w'ithout his own consent. The rules of scrip- 
ture are in conformity with this principle. Under the old dis- 
pensation, man-stealing was punished with death. Exodus, xxi. 
IG, and Deuteronomy, xxiv. 7. And in the new testament, men- 
stealors are reckoned as a class of wicked men, 1 Timothy, i. 10. 
And I v.ould ask, what better origin has our slavery than men- 
stealing ? 

But in defence of slavery, I know it is said, that in the New-' 
Testament, servants are commanded to obey their masters, though 
at that time, a great proportion of the servants, were in fact 
slaves ; that when Onesimus, for what time or from Avbat cir- 
cumstances a servant, does not appear, nor is it material, left his 
master Philemon, and became a convert ; St. Paul sent him back 
to his master, atid offered to make good any damage he might 
have sustained by the misconduct of his servant. To all this I 
would answer, that God is a God of order and not of confusion ; 
that the Christian religion, instead of making its followers judges 
in their own case, forbids them to resist evil, or to exercise the 
law of retaliation ; but the injunction to the oppressed to yield, 
<lees not justify or render lawful, the conduct of the oppressor. — 
I suppose there never existed greater tyrants than in the days of 
the preaching of Jesus and his Apostles ; yet they commanded 
their followers to obey the civil authority. "tVill any man, from 
this circumstance, pretend to justify the conduct of Tiberius, 



Caligula, Claudius and Nero? But I have dwelt too long^on tire 
proof of a thing as clear, as any principle of religion can be. — 
The superior light of Christianity has expelled it from nearly all 
christian civilized nations. The old heathen practice of ma- 
liing slaves of piisoners taken in war, that ancient fruitful source 
of human slavery and misery is, thank God, banished from all 
civilized nations. 

But it will perhaps be asked, if slavery be so great an evil, so 
great a usurpation on the rights of man, why did not our ances- 
tors, Ihose sages and heroes who conducted us to independence 
and national prospprity express their sense of its atrociousness, 
and take measures for its removal ? I answer, this sense was ex- 
pressed by many leading characters, but a crowded slave popula- 
tion keeps off free hirelini^s, they had become so situated in some 
of the Southern states, that they could not have cultivated their 
lands wi> 01.1 them ; all efficient legislative powers were vested 
in th3 stcite govn-nment*, and it seemed absolutely necessary, in 
order to secure the independence of the country, that they should 
all unite, and that they should he received in<.o the union, on such 
terms as would be acceded to by each ; and no doulDt it was 
hoped, that, after the independence of the country was accom- 
plished, measures would be taken in some ^vay for the removal of 
the evil. Mr. Henry, one of the foremost champions of indepen- 
dence in Virginia, a slave-holding state, is known to have express- 
ed, in a letter which has been published, his abhorrence of slave- 
ry ; Washington in his last will and testament, left his slaves 
free at certain periods ; and Jefferson, the admired framer of 
our declaration of independence, has expressed a decided sense 
of the evil of it in his Notes on Virginia, a work written 1781, du- 
ring the revolutionary war, in answer, as he says, to some que- 
ries of a foreigner of distinction then residing among us. The 
eighteenth query runs thus: "The particular customs and man- 
ners that may happen to be received in that state .'" As many 
of my readers may not have an opportunity of seeing this work, 
and the whole of the answer to this query, is well worthy the at- 
tention of the public, I shall give it entire. It is as follows : 

" It is difficult to determine on the standard, by which the 
" manners of a nation may be iried, whether catholic or particu- 
" lar. It is more difficult for a native to bring to that standard 
" the manners, of his own nation, familiarised to him by habit. 
''There must doubtless, be an unhappy influence on the m?nners 
" of our people, produced by the existence of slavery among us. 
" The whole commerce between master and slave, is a perpetu- 
" al exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremit- 



li 

^' ting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions an 
"the otlier. Our children see this, and leain to imi'ate it, for 
"man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of all 
" education m him. From his cradle to his grave, he is learning 
"to do nhat he sees others do. If a parent could tind no motive 
" either in his philanthropy or self-love, for restraining the in- 
" temperance of passion towards lii>- slave, it should always be a 
"sufficient one, that his child is present. But generally it is not 
" sufficient. The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the 
"lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of 
" smaller slaves, gives a h)ose to the worst of passions, and thus 
"nursed, educated and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be 
" stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man must be a 
" prodigy, who can retain his manners and morals uudepraved 
" by such circumstances. And will what execration should the 
*■' statesman be loaded, who permitting one half of the citizens 
*' thus to trample on the rights of the other, transforms those into 
"despots, and these into enemies ; destroys the morals of the 
"one part, and the amor patriae of the other .^ For it a slave can 
"have a country in this world, it must be any other, in prefer- 
" once to that in which he is born to live antl labor for another ; 
"in which he must lock up the faculties of his nature, contribute 
"as far as depends on his individual endeavors to the evanish- 
" ment of the human race, or entail his own miserable condition 
"on the endless generations proceeding from him. With the 
"morals of the people, their industry also is destroyed, for in a 
"warm climate, no man will labor for himself, who can make 
" another labor for him. This is so true, that of the proprieiors 
" of slaves, a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to laboi". 
" And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we 
" have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of 
" the people, that those liberties are the gift of God ? That they 
"are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble 
" for my country, when I reflect that God is just : that his justice 
" cannot sleep forever : that considering numbers, nature and 
" natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an ox- 
" change of situation, is among possible events : that it may be- 
" come probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty 
" has no attribute vvhich can take side with us in such a contest, 
"But it is impossible (o be temperate, and to pursue this subject 
" through the various considerations of policy, of morals, of his- 
" tory, natural and civil. We must be contented to hope, they 
" will force their way into every one's mind. I (hink a change 
" already perceptible, since the origin of (he present rev-^luliou. 



12 

" The spirit of tlie master is abating, that oftlic slave rising from 
" the dust, his condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing' un~ 
"der the auspices of heaven for a total emancipation ; and that 
" this is disposed in the order of events, to be with the consent of 
" the masters, rather than by their extirpation."* 

SIDNEY. 



2^0. 4. 

I shoul4 not, I suppose have troubled you, my fellow ctzcns, 
with arg'iments to prove the enormity and impolicy of slavery, if 
I had not thought the removal of the evil feasible on constitutioxi- 
al principles, without infringing on the claims of the holders, or 
burthening the nation with additional taxes. We have sufficient 
data, from which the whole business may be calculated very 
nearly. The census of 1820 gives the number of slaves in the 
United States, arranged into four classes, namely, those under 14 

* Since the first number of this essay was put to press, advice has been 
received, that the two ex-presidents, the members of the committee which 
supported and framed our declaration of independence, Mr. Adams and 
Mr. .leQerson, have been both removed from among us, on the jubilee com 
niemoration of that happy event, and date of that number. How striking a 
manifestation of the arrangements of Divine Providence ! How much 
should the opinion of the worthy and judiciout author of the notes on Vir- 
ginia respecting slavery, weigh v/ith his surviving fellow citizens, Itsounds 
like the last advice of a departing father .' 

In the original draft of the Declaration of Independence prepared by him, 
was the following clause respecting slavery ; which was left out, in conse- 
quence of objections made by some of the Southern representatives in Con- 
gress ; it being considered all important, that the Declaration should go 
forth, as the unanimous voice of the whole thirteen states. Speaking of the 
king of Great Britain it is said, 

"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most 
sacred rights, of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who 
■never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another 
hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. — 
This piratical warfare, the opprobium of infidel powers, is the warfare of a 
Chrisliun king of Great Britain. Determined to keep an open market where 
MEN should be bought and sold ; he has prostituted his negative for sup- 
pressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable 
commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of dis- 
tinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among 
us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murder- 
ing the people upon whom he also obtruded them, thus payiirg oO' former 
crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he 
urges them to commit against the lives of another." 



13 

years old, those of 14 and under 26, those of 26 and under 45, 
and those of 45 and upwards. The census of 1810, compared 
with that of 1820, shews the rate per centum of their increase in 
3 years; wtence by the laws of compound interest, the rate per 
rent per annum of that increase may be found. Again, from the 
amount of the debt of the Uniled States on the first day of the 
year 1822, the first commencement of a year after the payment 
of the claims on the Florida purchase, and the amount of the 
debt 1st of January, 1S26, we find that in the space four years, 
the United States, besides paying all the expenses of the govern- 
iTient, and interest of their debt, discharged more than twelve and 
a half millions of dollars of the principal. From these data, I 
think I shall shew in the course of this essay, that, by a prudent 
application of our means, we can in much less time than might at 
fint be supposed, both pay off our debt, and entirely, or very near- 
ly annihilate slavery among us, witliout laying any additional tax, 
or at all infring-ing on the claim of the slave holders. But previ- 
ous to entering on the consideration of the mode of effecting it, 
or the necessary calculations, I proceed to consider the pioprie- 
ty, expediency, constitutionality and obligation, of the general 
government's buying up the slaves by vountary contract, and 
colonizing them without the territory of the United States. 

And first, of its propriety. Of tliis there can certainly be no 
doubt. If it be true and self-evident, as our declaratioi of inde- 
pendence declares, that all men are created equal, and are en- 
dowecl by their Creator with the inalienable rio-lils of lif", liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness; itis manifest, that nothing but the 
most absolute and peremptory necessity can justify us in keeping 
our fellow-creatures in that condition; g.nd if such a necessity 
exists at present, that the most speedy and effectual measures 
should be used to remove it. That no necessity exists for its be- 
ing retained perpetually, is manifest from this: — That all other 
civilized nations except our own, either do not permit it, or are 
pursuing measures to abolish it; that in those of our own states 
where there are few or no slaves, labor is performed to more ad- 
vantage, the lands improve faster, are more valuable, and there 
is a more rapid increase in population and wealth, than in those, 
where they are numerous. — Tlian in managing the concerns of a 
nation, as well as those of an individual, honesty is, as our il- 
lustrious Washington often observed, the best policy. Which 
brings me to 

The second head, its Expediency. This head is so extensive, 
that in an essay of this kind, I can by no means pretend to do 
justice to it. The impoliry of slavery is abundantly manifest, 



H 

by comparing the increase of population in slave holding states, 
with that increase in those states where {ew or no slaves exist. — 
The population of Virginia, considertd by far the most populous 
slate daring our revolutionary war, was by the census of 1790, 
considerably more than double that of New- York, whereas by 
that of 1820, thirty years after, that of New-York exceeded that 
of Virginia, by considerably more than a fourth, and veiy nearly 
a third part o'fthe latter. Nor is this all. The population of 
New-York is all of a friendly nature, and may be depended on 
in case of war, or invasion; whereas the «iave population, which 
is nearly one half of the other, is of a hostile nature, and so far 
from being any protection in the hour of danger, could not be 
eafely trusted with arms, and would even require a considerable 
part of the free population to guard against them. A large slave 
population will always interfere considerably with the increase of 
free population. The free labouriisig poor, which must always 
constitute the greater proportion of apopulatioM eselusively fieo, 
•will naturally avoid going into a country, where slaves constitute a 
large proporton of the population, for the obvious reason, that 
there is litd chance of employment for them most of those who 
Tvant labour, being provided with slaves for tliat purpose. 

The political evils arising from an extensive slave population, 
are many and great. Those who cultivate their lands by labor- 
ers of this description,are obliged to feed and clothe a great num- 
ber, who from infancy, old age, or other causes, are incapable of 
labor. This obliges them to cultivate much more land than they 
can manure, so that we generally tlnd land so situated to depre- 
ciate. The expense of supporting so many supernumeraries les- 
sens their profits, which are still farther diminished by the loss of 
the Income, which the capital vested in this kind of property, 
would produce in any other good Investment. All which accounts 
for the well known fact, that the produce of slave labor cannot 
come in competition in the market with the produce of free la- 
bor. The lands also become less valuable from the want of a 
free laboring population, many of whom would become w^ealthy, 
andofcoa-'se competitors for the purchase of it. Inconvenien- 
ces may be expected to arise from an extensive slave population, 
to the wealthy, because, if it were not for the slave population, 
there would be an abundance of free labourers to be employed to 
better advantage. The difficulty of procuring hirelings to those 
in middling circumstances, who are not rich enough to own slaves, 
is manifestly increased; while the free poor are injured from a 
diminution of employment. 

Let it be considered, moreover, that an extensive and rapidly 



inGreasin£;.slave population, and such, ours of a million and'tiiree 
quarters, doubling every twenty-seven years, must be considered, 
has always been found to produce wars, the most expensive 
and desolatmg of all political evils; and a very short war would 
cost the nation more, than buying up and removing that popula- 
tion ou a judicious plan, as will I trust appear in the course of 
this essay. 

The expediency of the measure is still further enhanced from 
the increase of the public prejudices against this evil. All the 
states of our union to the northward of the states of Maryland 
and Delaware, the slaves of which, by the census of 1790, were 
upwards of forty thousand, have either abolished slavery, or made 
provision for the speedy removal of it. The same may be said 
of the seven republics, which have lately been formed out of the 
former Spanish American dominions. An independent govern- 
ment of blaek people has lately arisen in a \'ery large and fu'iiful 
West India Island. Repeated and respectable petitions liave 
been lately made to tiie British Parliament, for the abolition of 
slavery in their foreign possessions, and tlie British Minister has 
declared a determination of removing it, if the Colonial Govern- 
ments do not soon of themselves eflect it. That powerful engine, 
the press, has also lately becom.e active in the cause, and peri- 
odical publications, having this for their professed object, are 
edited and meet with encouragement from the public. Anti-Sla- 
very Societies multiply in diiferent parts of the Union. And these 
circumstances must become very generally Icnown to the slaves 
themselves, and tend to raise in them hopes of relief from their 
enslaved condition. 

The writer of this essay has communicated his proposed plan 
for the removal of slavery, to several slave holders, for the pur- 
pose of knowing their dispositions, and hearing their observations 
and objections, and had the pleasure of finding them generally 
friendly to the measure of buying them up for the purpose of 
liberating and colonizing them. Indeed he considers the measure 
as very favorable to the interests of that class of our citizens. 
^ SIDNEY. 



K^. 5. 

The expediency of the proposed measure is farther evidenced 
by its effect on the industrious free population, and espcQially on 
the mechanical part of .society. Slaves are taught varioo? wp- 



16 

chanlcal branches, as the business of carpenters^ bjacksmithsy 
weavers, shoemakers, &c. and in this way interfere much wiih 
the interest of mechanics. Moreover, slaves are generally obli- 
ged to live in small huts raised chiefly by their own labor, to eat 
the most common faro, and wear tlie coarsest apparel raised 
chiefly by (heir own mdustry; whereas if they were free, they 
would most of them, by their industry, be enabled to live in better 
houses, and to provide themselves with more comfortable and 
costly food and raimen^;"and which would furnish additional 
employment for mechanics, merchants, retailers, and even 
farmers. Hence the interests of the children of a great many 
slaveholders are injured by the system of slavery; a large pro- 
portion of the slaveholders cannot leave each of tlieir children, 
sutilcient land and slaves to supporl them without a profession 
or mechanical business, and the concerns of mechanics being 
injnred by slavery, many of their children are obliged to emi- 
grate to more favorable situations, such as the western states 
or territories^ This is doii?jt!ess one cause of the slowness of the 
increase of free population in slavcholding states. 

It seems indeed to be a national policy of governments, having 
distant possessions, to encourage slavery in them, in order to 
diminish the free, and divide and weaken the whole population. 
Accordingly we find, in the original draft of the Declaration of 
Indepenr'ence. (see note to No. 3 above,) the king of Great 
Britain accused, of having prostituted his negative, for suppres- 
sing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain that execra- 
ble commerce, the slave trade. This accusation, it is presumed, 
refers to a supprfssion of some attempt or attempts of some of 
the colo«ial or state governments, to prohibit or limit the slave 
trade with respect to themselves. The contrary, the abolition of 
the slave trade and slavery, is evidently the natural policy of 
free states. 

The superior increase of the slave population above that of 
the free in the Southern states would be a just ground of alarm, if 
something were not likely to be done to counteract it. The in- 
crease of the free population of Georgia, between the census of 
1810 and 1820, was under thirty percent, that of the slave, above 
forty-two; of the free in South Carolina, during the same period, 
about nine, of the slave above twenty-eight; in North Carolina, 
of the free about twelve, of the slave, about twenty-six and an 
half. A like observation is applicable to most of the other slave 
holding states, as may be found by consulting the censuses of 
these years. The fact needs no comment. 



a 

Jt has teen said, that if the slaveholders in (he Southern states 
were to part with their slaves, they would be incapable of work- 
ing their lauds; and of course, that their agriculture would be 
diminished and much neglected. That the supposed necessity of 
•slave labor for the cultivation of these countries, when first 
settled by European emigrants, was one ground of the toleration 
of the slave trade by the governments of that part of the world, is 
I think highly probable : but it is I believe uuqucstronable, that 
no such necessity exists at this time. If indeed the removal of 
the slaves were to be sudden, I have no doubt, it would create 
very considerable embarrassment for some time; but if it were 
gradual, individuals parting voluntarily with such as tliay could 
coriv«^niently spare,I am so far from thinking it woul'l injure their- 
agricultural pursuits, that I am persuaded, it wouiJ materially 
improve them. As employment for the labor of freemen in- 
creased, a sufficient number of such to supply any defect arising 
from the diminution of slaves, would soon come into the parts 
where their labor was in demand; and the land would be better 
cultivated, improve fastei-, and become more valuable, as is found 
to be the casu in non slave holding parts. 

And if slavery be so great an evil, whether considered in a 
political point of view, oi- with respect to individuals; the expe- 
diency of the business being taken up by Congress, is far'iiep 
evinced from the little prospect of the evil bemg removed by 
any other means. All the states north of Maryland and Dela- 
ware have either abolished slavery, or made provision for its 
speedy removal. But in these two states, and the slave holding 
ones to the south of them, very little has been done either for 
removing or diminishing the evil. N.or doe's there appear to be 
any rational ground of hope, that much will be done by the legis- 
latures of these states for a long- time to come. A majority of 
the legislators themselves, ?nd a large and influential portion of 
their constituents, are slave holders, and as the port duties have 
been reiinrjuished by them in favor of the general government, 
and their present expenses nearly or entirely absorb their reve- 
nues, there would be no source for recompensing the slave hold- 
ers for the privations they would incur by any measure of that 
kind, unless by additional taxes; which would of course be so 
obnoxious, that many members could not be expected to risk 
their popularity with their constituents by advocating them. 

Having tlius discoursed o.n the expediency of the proposed 
measure, I shall postpone the consideration of its constitutionality 
and obligatloB for the ensuing number. 



IS 



3^0. e* 

The constitntionailty of the proposed measure, was the next 
thing to be considered ; and of this there can I thiiiK bene doabt. * 
Slaves are considered as personal property, and of course Con- 
gress, as a political person, has a right to purchase them for any 
pui-pose which may be judged conducive to the public welfare ; 
and I could as soon question their right to purchase any other 
personal property for the use of their army, navy, ports, or any 
other public purpose, as their right in this case. It is a measure 
of internal improvement, and I believe almost universally admit- 
ted 10 be an important one. If would manifestly be no injury to 
slave-holders, as they need not sell, unless they chose; and 
would be an accjtnodation to such as wished to dispose of 
them, '^or do I thinlc the maximum tixed by congress ought to 
amount to a full price of them sold for life, being well assured, 
.that a large [)ropOition of the slave holders would take considera- 
\ \y less for them, for the purpose of liberating and colonizing 
th,3m, than they v/ould require, selling theiri for life. As T never 
dia hear the constitutionality of the measure questioned by any 
one, it seems unnecessary to expatiate farlher respecting it, 

Tbe next thing to be considered, was the obligation or duty of 
making the proposed appropriation; and as this depends a good 
deal ov the feasibility of the plan, wliich necessarily requires 
calculation, I proceed to consider, iirst, the extent of the slave 
population, and, as I do not think it expedient to employ the 
revenue in the purchase of such as are very old or very young, 
of thait population arranged into difierent classes according to 
their age. Secondly, the state of the public funds, and their 
compe\*:ency to effect the proposed object. 

And first as the total amount of the slave population. This 
by the census of 1820, was ], 531, 436, which is exclusive of the 
district of Kershaw in South Carolina, the returns from which 
did not airive in time for publication in that census. When re- 
<?eived, it exhibited a slave population for that district of 6,692^ 
making the whole slave population of the United Stales 
t,5SS,l28, »nd as all the states north of Maryland and Delaware, 
namely, those of Maine, NevvHamshire, Vermont, Massachusetts. 
It node Islami, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pensylva- 
nia, are eilher entirely clear of slavery, or have adopted measures 
i'ov i!s speed} remcval, there is of course no necessity iortlie gene- 
ral government to interfere with the slave population of these 
states. That population by the census of li?2fl, amounted to 



19 

18,001, which being deducted from the aboye total of 1,5S8,12S« 
leaves a remainder of l,5 20,ri7. 

By comparins; the amount of the slave population of 1810, 
with that of iSiO, accordiog to the < ciis'ises of these rears, the 
states. That poDulation bv the census ol 18i20, amounted to 18,001, 
increase ef that population appears to bi about twenty-nine per 
cent iu the ten years. But i^s I think ii piobablp irom the amount 
of the returns, that equal accuracy was not observed, m some of 
the western parts of the union, in the lormer census as in the latter, 
and a spirit of ma*iumission seems to !v.ive increased ; 1 think it 
probable, that the increase v.ould be i.^utl liigh enoiigi at twenty- 
eight per cent, in ten years, which, a- .> popuiatiou "increases ac- 
cording to the law of compound in.etest, is about two and an 
half j^r cent per anaum, as may a; ear to any one who will 
find the amount of the principal and int( restof one dollar for ten 
years, finding the interest for each year at two and an half per 
cent by the well known rule of simple interest, and increasing 
the principal of every year by the addiuon of the interest of the 
preceding. The increase in ten years will be found to be twenty- 
eight per cent, and a very small fraction, less than the hundredth 
part of one per cent; and as two and an half is one fortieth part 
of a hundred, we may, by supposing this law of increase, find the 
population of any one year, by adding to that of the preceding, a 
fortieth part of its amonnt. And as the amount of the census of 
1850 appears to have been taken late in the year I8i0 and partly' 
in J 821, the time first limited for tiansmitting- the returns to the 
Secretary of State, being to the first April ISil, which was 
afterwards extended to the first September foilowmg, I shall 
assume the amount by that census as above, namely 1,620,127. 
as the slave population, 1st January 1821; and by usiiig the 
proposed law of increase, of adding to the population of any one 
year, one fortieth of that population, to find that of tiie suc- 
ceeding year; that population, at the coa mencement o' 18^2, will 
appear to be 1,558,130; of 1823, 1,597,083; of 1824. 1,637,010, 
of 1825, 1,6T;,935: of 1826. 1,119,883; of JSJ7, 1, -762,850. The 

population at the commencemenl of the succeeding yeras to that 
of 1841, with the estimated numbeis o' the different classes for 
each year", is postponed to the ensuing number. SIDNEY. 



TSQm 7. 



In order to an estimate of the numbers of the difTerent classes 
•f the slaves, classed according to their age. I shall make uf-e 
C 2. 



of Doctor Hallev's well known tabic, taken from the bills of 
mortality at Breslaw in Silesia, and the numbers of the slaves 
ofdiiierent ages, according to Jje census of 1820. Doctor 
Hallcy in his table pilches on the number of 1000 persons, all 
supposed to be born in one y*ar, and shews how many of them 
were alive at the end of every year, to the extinction of the last 
in the 90th year. The table is as follows. 



Under 1 year- 10 00 


<1 


Person! 
living. 

Age. 






Betweea i 


&.2- S55 


Betw'n 80 & 31-523 Betw'n 60 & 61-232 


2 


3- 798 


31 


32-515 


61 


©2-222 


S 


4- 760 


32 


53-507 


62 


63-212 


4 


5- 732 


3» 


S4-499 


63 


64-20C 


5 


6- 710 


34 


35-490 


64 


65-19-2 


6 


7- 692 


35 


36-481 


65 


66-182 


7 


8- 680 


36 


37-472 


66 


67-172 


8 


9- 670 


37 


38-463 


67 


C8-162 


9 


10- 661 


38 


39-454 


68 


09-152 


10 


11- 653 


39 


40-445 


69 


70-142 


11 


12- 646 


40 


4 I -436 


70 


71-131 


liJ 


13- 640 


41 


42-427 


71 


73-120 


13 


14- 634 


42 


43-417 


72 


7.1-109 


14 


15- 623 


43 


44-407 


73 


74- 98 


15 


16- 022 


44 


45-397 


74 


75- 88 


16 


17- 616 


45 


4b-387 


75 


76- 78 


17 


18- 610 


46 


47-377 


76 


77- 68 


18 


19- 604 


47 


48-367 


77 


78- 58 


19 


20- 598 


48 


49-357 


78 


T9- 49 


20 


2 I- 592 


49 


50-346 


79 


80- 41 


21 


22- 586 


50 


51-835 


80 


81- 34 


22 


23- 579 


51 


52-324 


81 


82- 28 


93 


24- 573 


52 


.53-318 


82 


88- 23 


24 


25- 567 


53 


54-302 


83 


84- 20 


23 


26- 560 


54 


55-292 


84 


85- 15 


26 


27- 553 


65 


56-282 


85 


86- n 


27 


23- 546- 


66 


57-272 


86 


87- 8 


28 


'29- 539 


67 


58-262 


87 


83- 6 


39 


.36- 531 


58 


59-252 


88 


89- S 






i9 


60-242 


89 


90- 1 










90 SllipwdgO 



^supposing 1000 persons bom and anlving at the age of one 
vear, every year for 90 year?, there would, on the supposition ot 
this table,' be the sum of the whole, or S3,93G of them alive at 
the pnd of the 90 years; and the number opposite each year, 
would shew the number of that age, and the sum of the num- 
ber of Rny number of years, the number of those of the ages, 
whose sum is so taken alive at that time. Whence there would 
be alive at the end of the ninety years, on the same supposition, 
under 14 years of age. 10,1 3 1, about 30 per cent of the whole, 
of 14 and under '20,^7,135; of 26 and under 45, 9102; and of 45 
and upwards, 7,568, the three latter classes being about 21,26 3-4 
and 22 1-4 per cent of the whole respectively. 

And by the census of 1 820, of a slave population of 1 ,53 J ,436, 
classed in like manner, the numbers of the different classes were 
665,474; 403,757; 3l4,87i and 147,333; being about 43 1-2, 
26 1-4, 20 1-2, and 9 3-4 per cent of the whole. 

A striking contrast between the mortality at the healthy city 
of Rreslaw, where nearly a fourth of the population attain the 
age of 45; and in the United States, where a large proportion 
live in unhealthy situations, and the number who attain that age 
is short of a tenth; however the difference, though considerable 
in the youngest and oldest classes, is less so in the others; and 
we may find the proportionate numbers, nearly enough for our 
purpose, in the different classes, in the way in which I wish to 
class them, which is by making fowr classes, comprising periods 
of age of ten years each, of all under forty years old, and one 
of those of forty and upwards, by taking numbers having the 
same proportion to the numbers of the different classes by the 
census as above; as the number of the class in the proposed 
mode, most nearly corresponding with that in the census accor- 
ding to the above table, is to the number of the class of a like 
period with that of the census according to <he same table; and 
finding a corresponding per centum for each class, making the 
per centum of each class whole numbers, by throwing in frac- 
tions in the younger classes and dropping them in the older. In 
applying this rule, we find the numbers of the different classes 
in the proposed mode, according to the above table, as follows; 
under ten years of age, 7,558; of ten and under twenty, 6,251 ; 
of twenty and under thirty, 5,626; of thirty and under forty, 4,- 
849; of forty and upwards, 9,652. 

And to apply the rule just mentioned in finding the proportion 
of the numbers of the first class, say, as lu,lSl the amount for 
Jhose under 14 by Hallev's table, is to 7.558. the amount for 



tliDSC under ten by tae same; so is 665,474, the number of slaves, 
under fourteen b/ the census, to a fourth number, which is 
496,461 1-2, or 32 1-2 per cent of the whole, nearly. In like 
manner the proportion of the other classes may be found; and by 
taking the rates per centum of the different classes in whole 
numbers in the mode just prescribed, these numbers will be found 
to be nearly as follows, namely, a3,'i 4, 20.11 and 12. Whence 
and from what has been said in the precedins; number, we may 
estimate very nearly, r>t the commencement of every year, from 
that of 13 27 to that of 1S41, or about the time of the Cth census, 
the population of the whole, and the different classes, with the 
increase of the whole, and of each class, for every year during 
that period, as in the following table. 



BS 



ooooocorocoocooooooooooocooor' 

4^ ,>. ci c; 03 03 oi w oa c^ o' 03 ic >-j i:i 

►-^ c 'C or -^j oi u- >f» 03 ta — c *9 oc . 

00 oc -^i -~i -vl -^ ^1 a O Cft c^..r^ rf t.^ £<; 

— _.jo ?- * P< '" '- '^ ?■ ^"^'r P- " Isl class, under 10 ffcio's old. 

«2 to 03 05*0^ in Cr. ^, a> ^ '•' •t' ki '^ '^ 
'O <^ 00 C vO Ki C 1— -Ji -' .i> OC ~ 'C -l> 

O>Oitn«^Cft0r.C^C/<<'^itk^4i#.rfkrfi. 
«)CCO. tJHi tsS.-<C-iC'^O)OiP»03t0 
-M Oi <0 tr, ►- CC V> • - C OC -^ -J ifi. 03 03 



itic — ;/i03if>.vca>' 
' ~ ; CO <; to tp 

M i*3 On o; CJ) !£ ^ c. 



2!id ciass, o/ IC and unddr 29. 



■*>. .tk rfi ^ A . 

S|tSg£;^"::^;oU^i-{^ Zrdcla.s,of20u:uJunder StJ, 
^ o u o -s <c c -o ;: --< K a> ot o oi 
K5 N3 n to N. f-i K. ^: tc M -n: ti «o >- >- 

4f/i class, rf oO «r;d ttnrf«- 4?. 

M-'^-^tJ--UJ~~lO>06cV£*».Cw03 0l«-' 

»0 M ^i to NO to K, M ti (O tv. IC :^ (O M 
<0 to 03 -M -^1 O^ u. Oi rfk Oj >j to to >- »- 
00 ►- 4- ^ _p *>■ J^ j- O. _VO Oi "S to o> 1— 

"<o *cri tft 3^ ";^ "U '^ 'rf^ 'L 03 "If, bo to 00% nth clcss. of 40 and fmc^xris- 
cx>oooic7io<— oc»-ooo. -v« — Vtrf^cn 

^M M»0 tOJk. JSO M t3j- ^H- h- ►- »-. 

*»i^03 03c>stC"-ooto<£;a:o:ooVi rr.f^i 

«30a-4— tnC*^tO*»tC^OOnCO •' *'<'•• 
^O O O 03 Ol ^ ^1 J> jfu ^ 0» GC JO p» to 

'J0»-'09CC?lC.fr0BCjiif^\n0c'ia.'i-'<O00 



jD _<c ^^c cc cc j~! --4 p, p o> o. V. ^ *. Increase of 1st class during t!ie prtct^i 
S if S ''^ ^ r.' 15 "o^ *■ '== '^^ ^ "« "<^ Jilt"- vcar. 

O (3 t^ --4 ji C cc a. i^ Oj tC O 00 rfi. 

J3^_l^ololt!(ototo-^ri^co Increase of Znd class, during the prs- 
'cft to oc ot'to'oco.'io'to O) o — KOi ceding year. 

►-4n<CC«OOCtO^^O(CC,3»-CO 

rn"r!~^^^ ^ _ Increase of 3rd class, durinsr llu prect- 

dmg year. 

Increase of 4th class, during the prett- 
ci a oi a. _p) Or. On tf, o> tft tn t« rf^. .*». ,/i»,p. „,.y 

O t^, 03 U C VD -^ a. rf:- *0, 'to C O 'oo ^ ' 

03<c.-c. rf.-Mo3J5;S--£2a 

^T^F'P'P'P'P'P'}^ 01. o> c/. o. oi» Increase of hth class, during thcprece- 

J§ n ^ ^ g S Sc" - g ?. S li' 'fe's^ ^in^ year. 

c w to c o. 03 -s. 0. o. 00 o^ ^ ir g • 

Cl tn C/. Ot tfl 0(1 O. Oi 4^ *. rfi Ji jl, >, ^r. . I ■ . • i-.. 

p jojN ,0)j> w fjj- vc a -^^ S o>» ^ ioJflj mcrease rtunn": ^me preceding 
'S»occi^co>03i«^ocb'.^03"'- "^ veav 

■{'■(ocnoc-^ooooj-vi^o: ;-r^ 

Having thus considered the extent of the slave population of 
the United States, arranged into difi'mint classes, as proposed, I 
(•lose this uuaiber. 

SIDNEY 



21 



Having in my two preceding numbers treated of the extent of 
the slave population of the United States, arranged into classes ac- 
cording their age; I proceed to consider the second thing propo- 
sed, namely, the state of the public funds, and their cornpetency 
to effect the proposed object. 

The amount of the debt of the United States at the commence- 
ment of every year since that of 1816, which was the first after 
the conclusion of the war ol" 1812, compared with thp amount of 
of debt at the preceding commencement, shews a continual dimi- 
nution of it, with the exception of the year 18-32, which exhibits au 
increase of about three millions and a half, which was undoubt- 
edly owing to the five millions borrowed during the preceding 
year on account of the Florida treaty, which was ratified by the 
Senate of the United States the 19th of February 1821. We 
have in the Treasurer's report of 12th December 182CJ, what 
would be the amouni of debt at the commencement of 1827, 
being ^73,920,844.76. At the conrimencement of I822, it was 
98,546,676.98. By taking the several particulars of the debt of 
IS22, the average interest on it at that time, appears to have been 
about 5 1-2 per cent; at the commencement of 18-6, it was a ve- 
ry small fraction over 5 per cent, which was owing to a conside- 
rable part of the debt bearing an interest of 6 per cent, being 
paid off, and money being borrowed at 4 I-2 per cent; whence 
the average interest of the five years from I822, to 182? may be 
estimated at 5 1-4, per cent per annum. From these data, I shall, 
on the principle of compound interest, proceed to investigate, 

First. What is ihe average annuity, necessary to effect this 
reduction of the debt in the 5 years. 

Secondly. In what time, that annuity would annihilate the 
debt. And 

Thirdly. What difference the appropriation of any given part 
of that annuity to other purposes than the discharge of the debt, 
would make in the time of annihilatins: it. 

And as different persons may have different ideas respecting 
the mode of making appropristions for effecting the objeet of 
this essay, and calculations by compound interest are important 
in ascertaining the effect of any given appropriations for a given 
period or periods, and nrtany treatises otj arithmetic are deficient; 
ill this rule; it seems qui;.- expedient to sIk^w in this tract, how 
to in=»ke the needful calculatioos, as clearly and concisely aY 



S3 

And since the involutions and evolutions requisite in calcula-" 
tions by compound interest, where there arc many periodical 
times of payment, are very tedious and troublesome, and the 
more easy method by loe:arithms, requires large tables, which 
many who receive this essay, and w^ish to cilculate by that rule, 
might not have. I shall adopt that method which appeats to 
me most plain and easy, and whi(;h has been customary among 
arithmeticians, of using tables, which I shall give, and which, 
showing the value resulting from I dollaror unit, would render it 
easy to find the value resulting from any other amount, by multi- 
plying the result from one dollar, by the number of dollars in 
that amount. 

The tables deemed requisite and sufficient for our purpose are 
three, which are given below, which have been calculated ibi' 
every quarter per cent from 4 1-2 to 5 1-4, and for every year 
from 1 to 50. They are calculated to seven decimal places, 
which is as far as is customary, or necessary for any practical 
purpose. I shall first, shew tlie manner of calculating them, 
secondly, give the tables, and thirdly, shew how to solve the 
requisite problems by them, giving an example of each. 

And first. Of the manner of calculating them. Table 1 
shews the amount of one dollar for the proposed time and rate 
at compound interest, and is constructed as follows. 

Find the amount for one year by multiplying one dollar by the 
number expressing the amount of a unit for one year at simple 
interest, at the proposed rate, this ih the case of 5 per cent, is one 
5-100, or expressed decimally, 1.05, giving the amount of prin- 
cipal and interest, of one dollar for one year, one dollar and 
five cents, which is manifestly the amount of one dollar for that 
time and rate, at simple interest. For two years, multiply 1.05, 
so found, by the same multiplier 1.05, the product 1.1023 gives 
the amount for two years, and the amount for every j-ear is found 
by multiplying the amount of the next preceding year, by the 
same multiplier 1.05. 

In like manner, the table is constructed for the other rates, the 
fixed multiplier for 4 1-2 per cent being 1.045, for 4 S-4, 1.0473 
for 5 1-4, 1.0525. 

Table 2, shews the amount of an annuity of $ 1.00 for the pro- 
posed time and rate at compound interest. The amount for one 
year is $ 1. 00, and the amount for every succeeding year, is 
found, by adding the amount of ihe next preceding year, to tbat 
of the same vear, by table 1 . 

D 



U9 

Tai>le 3, shews the present worth of an annuUy of ^ 1.00, for 
the propo'^rd time and ratp, which is equal to the debt oi amount 
which wi,ji'o be discharged by that annuity, for that tlvof- and 
rate, at compound interest. The amount for anynun'ber of 
years is found, by dividins; the amount for that number i,i years 
in table 2, by the amount for the same number of years inta- 
5>le 1. The tib'es are as follow. 

T.ab)e 1. Shewins; the amount of $il.00 

for any number of years, froKi 1 to 30, at 

compound interest. 

^ 4iperccnf4^perrrnt. ^percsnt. 5\ percent. 



J 


1.0460000 


1.0475000 


1.05000CO 


1.0525000 


2 


1.09-"i!50 


1 0972562 


1.1025000 


1.1077562 


3 


1.14nR6) 


J. 1493-59 


1.1576250 


1.1659135 


4 


1.19251S6 


1.2039713 


1.2155063 


1.2271240 


6 


1.2461S19 


1,2611599 


1.2762816 


1.2915480 


6 


1. 30^2601 


1.3210650 


1.3400956 


1.3593543 


■7 


1.3608618 


1.3838156 


1.40^1004 


1.4307204 


8 


1.4221006 


1.4495469 


1.4774554 


1.5058332 


9 


1.4860951 


1,5184004 


1.5513282 


1.6848894 


10 


1.5529694 


1.5905244 


1.6288946 


1.6680961 


11 


1.6228530 


1.6660743 


1.7103393 


1.7566711 


12 


1.6958814 


1.7452128 


1.7968563 


1.S47843S 


13 


1.7721961 


1.8281104 


1.8S56491 


1.944S556 


14 


1.8519449 


1.9149456 


1.9799316 


2.0469605 


55 


1.9352824 


2.0059055 


2.0789282 


2.1544259 


16 


2.0223701 


2.1011860 


2.1828746 


2.2675333 


n 


2.1133763 


2.2009923 


2 2920183 


2.3865788 


38 


2.2084787 


2.3055394 


2.4066192 


2.5118742 


19 


2.3078603 


2.4150525 


2.5269502 


2.6437476 


20 


2.4117140 


2.5297675 


2.6632977 


2 7825443 


21 


2.5202411 


2.6499315 


2.7859626 


2.9286279 


22 


2.6336520 


2.7758032 


2.9262607 


3.0823809 


23 


2.7521663 


2.9076539 


3.0715237 


3.2442059 


24 


2.876'^ 138 


3.0457675 


3.2250999 


3.4145267- 


25 


3.0054344 


3.1904415 


3.3863549 


3.5937894 


26 


3.1406790 


3.3419875 


3.5556726 


3.7824633 


27 


3.2820095 


3.5007319 


3.7334563 


3.9810426 


28 


3.4296999 


3.6670167 


3.9201291 


4.1900473 


29 


3.5840364 


3.8412000 


4.1161356 


4.4100248 


30 


3.7453181 


4.0236570 


4i3219424 


4,644551i 



a: 



Table 2. Shewing the amount of au an» 
faulty of !$1,00 for any number of years 
from 1 to SO, at compound interest. 

I 4i per cent. 4$ per cent. Bpcrient. 5^ per cent. 



1,0000000 
2,0450000 
3,1370260 
4,2781911 
5,4707097 
6,7168917 
8,0191518 
9,3800136 
10,802114; 



l.OOOOvlOO 
2,0500000 
3,1526000 
4,3101 ao 
5,62563\2 
6,8019118 
8,14200t4 
,549iOJ3 



1,0000000 
2^0525000 
3,1602562 
4,3261697 
5,5532957 
6,8448417 
8,2041960 
,6349164 



1,0000000 
2,0475000 
3,1447562 
4,2941321 
5,4981034 
6,7592633 
8,CS032S3 
9,4641439 
10,9136908 li;02656-(3 11, '1407496 
30 12,2S8i094 12,4220912 12,5778925 12 7^56390 

11 13,8411788 14,0226156 14,2067811 I4'3937351 

12 15,4fc'40318 15,6886899 15,9171266 16 1494062 

13 17,1599133 17,4339027 17,712982B 17*9972500 

14 18,9321094 19,2620131 .I9,598632(» 19'94"TI056 

15 20,7840543 21,1769587 21,578563C 2r9S90661 

16 22,7193367 23,1828642 23,6574918 24*1434920 

17 24,74i7069 25,2840505 26,84W664 26'4110"'53 

18 26,8550837 27,4850425 28,1323847 28'797604l 

19 29,0635625 29,7906819 30,5390039 313094783 

20 31,3714'i28 32,2056344 33,0659541 33*9530259 

21 33,7831368 34,7354019 35,7192518 J6'7357702 

22 36,3033779 37,3853334 38,5052144 S9'6643981 

23 38,9370299 40,1611366 41,4304751 ^2*7467790 

24 41,6891963 43,0687905 44,6019989 45*9909849 

25 44,5652101 46,1146580 47,7270988 49'405511S 

26 47,5706446 49,3049995 51,1134538 62,9993010 

27 60,7113236 52,6469870 54,6691265 56 7817643 

28 63.9933332 66,1477189 58,4025828 60*7628069 

29 57,4230332 59,8147366 62,3227119 64 9528542 
.SO 61,0070697 63,6559356 66,4388475 69,3628790 



m 



US 



Table 3. Shewing the present worth of an 
annuity of $1 00 for any number of years 
from 1 to 30, which is equal to the debt 
which would be discharged by the same an- 
nuity in the same time, at compound interest.. 

fe 4^ per cent. 4^ per cent. 6 per cent. &\ per cent. 



0,9569378 
1. 8726578 

3,587 J 57 
4,389J767 

5,^57ti7J5 
5,H9'i70J9 
6.3958861 
7,26>i79'JS 
7,9127182 
8,ji8i^l69 
9,1185808 
9,68285 J4 

10,73934:57 
11.2340151 

il,707l9i4 

12 1599y.8 
12,59 ,^936 
15,0079565 

13 4047239 
13,784-1248 
U'147774i 
14.4954784 
14.5282089 
15,1466115 
15,4513028 
i5,742«>735 
16,0218b85 
16 2888885 



0,9545539 

1,8660182 

2,7360555 

3,556ri399 

4,3595609 

5 1165259 

5,8391654 

6,5290360 

7,1876238 

7,8163174 

8.4165608 

8,9895570 

9.5365699 

10.0587782 

10,5573063 

ll,03i228:) 

1143756i7 

!I,9a.v068 

12,33537q5 

12, 7306697 

13,1080377 

13,4532939 

13,8122136 

14.1405 378 

14,4539738 

14,7531959 

15,0388il4 

15,3115525 

15,5718378 

15,8204180 



0,9523809 

1,8594104 

2.7232480 

3,5459505 

4.3294767 

5,07j5921 

5.7853734 

6,4632128 

7,1078217 

7.7217349 

8,3064142 

8,853 <:5 16 

9,3935730 

9.89361 j9 

10,3796580 

10.8377695 

11,2740622 

ll,6i95369 

12,0353208 

12,4622103 

12,8211527 

13,1630026 

13,4835739 

13,7935418 

14.0939445 

14.3751853 

14,6430335 

14,8981272 

15.1410735 

15,3724510 



0,9501188 
1,8528445 
2,7i05409 
3,5^54544 
4,2997192 
5,0353625 
5,7343112 
6,398 5955 
7,0293545 
7,6288404 
8,1984^34 
8,7395319 
9,2537718 
9,7423011 
10,2064520 
10,647.697 
ll,06<iA,79S 
11,4645835 
11,8428594 
12,2022229 
12,5436797 
12,8681,140 
13,1763459 
13,4692123 
13,7474699 
14,0118480 
14,2630385 
14,5016995 
14,7284555 
14,9439008 



The practical application of these tables 
to the purposes of this essay, I defer to ano- 
ther number. SIDNEY. 



29 



S70. 9. 

Having in my preceding number given the tables necessary 
for the proposed calculations, 1 proceed to apply them to the 
purposes oi" this essay. 

Problem l. To find the amount principal and interest, of a 
given sum of moncij, in a given number of years^ at a given 
rate per cent per annum, compound interest. 

JtiULE. JMultiply the given sum, by the amount of ^1.00 for 
the given time and rate by table 1. The product is the amount 
required. 

KxAMPLE. The debt of the United States, 1st January, 1822, 
was $93,546,676.98, what would it amount to 1st January, 1827, 
supposing nothing paid on account of it, at 5 1-4 per cent per 
annum, compound interest .> — Ai.swer, $120,820,023.56. 

The given sum $93,546,676 98, multiplied by 1,2915480, the 
amount of $1.00 for five years, at & 1-4 per cent per annum, by 
table one, page 26, gives a product of $120,820,023.56, the. 
amount required. 

Prob. 2. To find the annuity, necessary to produce a given 
amount, in a given nwnbtr of years, at a given rate percent 
j}er annum, comprund inh: est. 

KuLE. Divide the gi -^ n amount, by the amount of an annuity 
of $1 00 for the given time and rate, by table 2. The quo- 
tient is the annuity ve.\ red. 

Example. What an: uity, would in five years, amount io 
$46,899,178 80, at 5 1-4 per cent per annum, compound inter- 
est.— Ans. An annuity < f $8,445,290.55. 

The given amount $46,899,178.80, divided by 5,5582937, the 
amount of an annu ly of $1.00 for five years at 5 1-4 per 
cent per annum, by table 2, page 27, gives a quotient of 
$8,445,290.55, the annuity sought. 

Prob. S. To find the amount^ of a given annuity^ for a given 
number of years, at a given rate per cent per anntan, compound 
interest. 

Rule. Blultiply the given annuity, by the amount of an annuity 
of $1.00 for the given time and rate by table 2. The pro- 
duct is the amount required. 

Example. What is the amount of an annuity of $8,445,290.55 
for five years, at 5 J -4 per cent per annum, compound interest.— 
Aas. 46,899,178.80, 



5C. 



a ^ZaLn^ToV^'" ""T''^^ "^'^^^"^'^ '' ''^^«- « ^^^^ from 

remainder ,n t eV^n J^..^"^^/ ^^"^^ T""^^ F«d"ce the 
2, is the annuit; r^e^Tre^ " ^'''" '■^*'' ^°""^ ^^ P^^"^^^"^ 

JaifuTrr'^J"^^"-''"! "'"^"^^^^^t<>f ^he ^^'^^d States, Ht 
tTsTd'sI!^? ™>»3'5^6'67C.98, and 1st January, I's^T 

annun, compound mterestSn^. t^^S^^V^'sfrL^^^Jr/ 
the ;?-veTZe''"arfl?^ '"' ''''''''' ''' ^'^ S'-^- --^^" 

920,814 76 the' fn(•''^'"'^'''^^^ '^' ^'-'^ '^"^ $73,- 
cessarv' oVrn^ ^/"*^''.'' $46,899,178.8u, the annuity ne- 

sought. " s?»544j,.90.o5, is the annuity 

given number of 2/4>" r«ra otn%^art!.T«A ''' '" '''^'' ^"^ " 
pound interest. "" ■''" "W^perammm, com- 

thr^e'a'n'd r^lf ?' """^n "* "^ *S' ^^^^ ^^'^^ interest for the ^iven 
of the^ivpn ' ^ r'-T '' ^'■'"" ^^'^^'^h subtract the amount 

^vonld b^eCducel "^"' ^' '^^" ^"'" ^' "^^'^'' ^he debt- 

be^r^XL1^a''^fi:^;er"bv":f ^ 't^ %^ f^^•%546,.T6.98 
!ft>8,445,290.55 a 5% 4 ' ^ an annuity for that time of 
interestP-An^: $l3,'9.^0,'84r;6 '"^ ^^ ^""«'"' ^^"^P-"^ 



,178.80. 



31 

Prob. 6. To jintl^ in what time, any given annully, great a' 
than the interest of a given debt, tvould extinccuish that debt, at a 
given rate per cent per annum, compound interest. 

Rule. Divide the debt by the annuiiy, the quotient is ihe 
amount 'which would be discharged by an onouity of !tj,1.00 in the 
time sou2;ht, and the years opposite the next lower number under 
the 2;iven rate of interest in table 8, pa2;e 28, are the years 
sought, and the odd months and days are found, by saying, as the 
difference between that next lower and the next higher in the 
3ame column, is to the excess of the quotient found, above that 
lovrer; so is one year or twelve months, to the months and days 
sought. 

Example. In what time would an annuity of <fi8,4-i 5,290.55 
(?ischq,'-2;e a debt of |,7S,920,8 14.76. at 4 3-4 per cent |;or annum, 
compound interest. — Ans. In 11 years, 7 months, vuk! J day. 

The upbt $73,920.S4 4.7G, divided by the ar r..u!y $8,445,- 
290.55, gives a quotient of 8,7529072, and the nswl lolver num- 
ber in table S, page 28, undfs 4 8-4 per cei;t is 8,41656037 
and the years opposite to it, being eleven, are the years sought. — ■ 
The next higher number in the same column is 8,9895570; 
the difference between the next higher and next lower being 
0,57'299G2, the excess of the quotient found above the next lower 
0,3363464; and as 0,572996;i, is to 0,S36S464-, so is one year or 
twelve mouths, to 7 months and one day. Therefore 1 1 years, 
1 months, 1 da}', is the time sought. 

The six problems, whose solutions have been just given, are 
deemed suflScient for the purposes of this essay. 

SIDNEY. 



^©. £®. 



The examples in No. 9 were selected with reference to the 
fiscal concerns of the United States, find supposing the national 
debt 1st January, 1827, to be $73,920,844.76, and the averagft 
annual interest 5 per cent, its interest for the year 1827, wouhl 
be $8,696,042.24, whence the average annual appropriation to 
the payment of the debt and intere'st, as found in problem two 
above, being $3,445,290.55; the surplus above the interest, 
being !j^4,749,l 48.31, is the amount which would that year go to 
the reduction of the principal, Whence it follows, that if the 



82 

plan jiroposed by Mr. Dickerson, of IVew Jersey, in the Senate 
of tii*^ (Jaice'l State of applying ^5,000,000 00 per annum of 
the fun Is, to the use of the several States for a number of years, 
were to be alopted, the debt of the nation would on this suppo- 
sition increase. 

A.ai if half the amount just calculated to go to the reduction 
of the principal of the debt in 18i7, or $2,374,574 151-2 were 
applied to some other purpose besides that reduction, as the re- 
moval of s'avry, by taking that from the above appropria- 
tion of $8,445,"2'JO 55, there \vould remain an annuity of 
$6,070,716.39 1-2; which by applying thp rule in problem 6 
ab )ve, will ')e found to extmsjuish the debt in eig-hteen years, 
seven nonih";. and twelve days, or in about six years longer than 
the whole un'-minished annuity would efTect that object. 

B it so lar2;e an aopropriation does not seem to be at all expe- 
dient, at least for some time; the colony of Liberia, to which the 
attention o' the people of the United States seems to be chiefly 
directed, wo ^'i not probably for a good while, be able to accom- 
modate so l;irge an emigration. A thousand persons a year, 
chiefly between twenty and thirty years of age, would be as 
many of this description as I should think expedient to colonize, 
until after t'.ie next census, when the effect of the appropriation 
would appear bv the census here, and a census taken in the 
colony, if it were done, would lend to ascertain the number of 
colonists, which it could conveniently receive, rating the ex- 
pease of obtaining and coloni'Cmg at '^300 eich, for 'Vbich I 
think it could be done, the amount tor one thousand would be 
|^S00,0 )0. Supposing then a sum of ■$.300,000 annually were 
aporopi'iated for five vears, ending 1st January, 1832, and 
*|^2,000,000 annual'y afterwards, in what time wo'ild the United 
States d.^ht as above, be discharged, reckoning the interest 
during the first perio 1 at 5, and the residue at 4 3-4 per cent per 
annuTj, compound interest? Taking from tne whole average 
annuity above $3,415,290.55, the sum of ^^300,000, the residue 
s^S, 1 45,290.55, would be the annuity applied during the five 
years, to the paynrmt of the principal and interest of the debt, 
the amount of which annuity in the five v^ars at 5 percent per 
annuip, found by proble.nn three above, is jp45,00",S7I.60, which 
beinj; taken from the amount of the debt as above f 73,920.844.76 
for tSe sa'ne ti ne and rate, found bv problem one, or 4^94,348- 
814.12, leaves a remainder of 'jp49, 335,942. 42, for the amount 
of debt at the end of the five years; from which, and the auuuity 



aiterwards applied to the payment of the principal and interest 
of the debt, found by subtracting $2,000,000.00 from the whole 
average annuity $8,445,290.55, applying the rule of problem 6, 
the time requisite for the ostins^uishment of Ihe debt, will be 
found to be 9 yrs. 8 mo. 27 days, from the 1st of January 1832, 
or to September, 1841; the application of the whole avarapje an- 
nuity, would, according to problem 6 above, effect the same ob- 
ject' in August, 1938. 

The examples here given are not intended to limit the reader 
or any person or persons, to any particular application of the 
lunds of the nation; but to shew, how, from the above tables, 
\he effect of any given application, of any given funds, may be 
l'oi:nd. 

I have said above, that T thought the slaves foi- colonizinoj 
could be procured on such terms as not to cost the government 
more, on an average than $.S00 each; T thought so, on the sup- 
position, that a sufficient number would be willing to part with 
tiiem at a lower rate, than they would require selling them for 
life. On this supposition T rated the males at $?»00 each and the 
females at $200, the average being $250, supposing the remain- 
ing $50, sufficient for their passage to Liberia or Hayti, (the 
expense of which, to the former, has been ascertained by the 
Colonization Society, not to exqeed $20,) and othpr incidental 
expenses. I have said that I thought a thousand persons a year 
was as many as could be well accommodated in Liberia; I do 
not suppose its present population can much exceed a thousand, 
and an annual importation equal to the actual population is per- 
haps as great a one as could be convenientlv provided for; but 
I can see no good reason, why some might not he sent to Hayti, 
the government of which appears well disposed to receive them, 
or to the British colony of Sierra Leone. The purchase and 
colonization ought, I apprehend, to be chiefly from the 3rd class, 
for the following reasons. 

First. I do not think it would have much effect towards the 
removal of slavery, to purchflse and remove any of the 5th class, 
those of 40 and upwards. They could not be expected to have 
much issue after that age, and might as well grow old and die 
in the United States, as elsewhere. 

Secondly. Although those of 30 and under 40, would prob- 
ably have considerable issue, yet the public money would be so 
much more advantageously employed in the 3rd class, of those 
between 20 and 30, in which I apprehend there could be easily 
39 many got. as it would be expedient to colonize at least fdY 

F; 



■34 

many years to come, that I do not think it would be expedient 
to buy them from the older classes. And before the age of 20, 
I do not conceive persons generally at that maturity of under- 
standing and strength, sufficient to obtain an honest livelihood, 
unless they were under the control or direction of a parent or 
other superior, [n case however, of the owners wishing to part 
with the children of parents bought for the purpose of coloni- 
zation, I should recommend their being bought for Ihe same pur- 
pose, at prices suited to their age, or if a female be of the requi- 
site age, her husband though somewhat younger or older than 
(he limit of the 3rd class, might be bought at a value suited to his 
age, care being taken in no case to separate the husband and 
wife. If a person selling his young slaves, should wish to part 
with the old ones, on condition of the expense of their passage 
being provided for, which I have reason to think many would 
Avish to do, they should, I apprehend, be gratified. 

SIDNEY 



Br0. la. 



Although for the reasons mentioned in the preceding number, a 
thousand persons a 3 ear, is perhaps as many of our slave popu- 
lation, as ought at present to be colonized, unless (hey.should be 
sent to some otlter place besides Liberia; yet it is desirable, that 
such a colonization should be commenced without delay, as the 
increase of population in that part, would render it capable of 
receiving- a still greater number. The annual number which 
ought, as soon as convenient, to be colonized, shoukl not, I ap- 
prehend, be less than the annual increase of the third class. This 
by the table in page 23, for the year ending 1st January 183 J, 
is 9,492, for that ending same day of 1841, 12,l.jl, making the 
average annual increase for the ten years, about eleven thousand, 
\^hich by a law of increase already mentioned in this tract, and 
by .the same table, is about a fortieth part of the whole popula- 
tion of that class, and which at ^300 each, would require an an- 
nual appropriation of ^3,300,000, and supposing $300,000 ap- 
propriated annually for 4 years ending 1st January 1832, reckon- 
ing at 5 per cent, and the whole annuity applied to (he reduc- 
tion of thp debf, to be as found in the example to problem 2, the 
debt 1st January 1828 would be ^69,171,696.4.5, and by apply- 
ing the rule of prob. 5, would, under the annual appropriation of 



f300,000 be reduced, by the 1st January 1832, to |i48,971,4l5.« 
S9, wliich by applying the rule of prob. G, would under the an- 
nual appropriation of ^S,SOO,000 be discharged in I'iy. Ilmo. 
18d. from the 1st. January 1832, or 19th December 18 44, Thus 
It is manifest, that the public funds are competent to purchasing 
and colonizing a number of the third class equal to its annual 
increase; and as the debt would, even with such an appropria- 
tion, be continually diminishing, and of course the interest on it, 
that they would soon be adequate to effecting much more in this 
way; and the issue of those so purchased and colonized, being 
born in a foreign country, would tend immediately to diminish 
4lie numbers of the first class; and after ten years from the 
first transmission, those of the second and fourth; and after 20 
years, those of the third and fifth, exclusive of what would be 
then colonized out of the third. I forbear entering into any 
particular calculation of the effect, as such calculation would at 
best be very hypothetical, and that effect would be best discov- 
ered by comparing the actual result by the census after such an 
experiment should have been for some time made, with that 
which would have arisen from the known rate of increase, if 
none had been colonized. 

Having thus spoken of the propriety, expediency^ const Hut ton- 
ality and feasibility of effecting a gradual diminution or remo- 
val of slavery; before I enter on the consideration of the duly 
of Ceng-ress in this business, it may not be amiss to say some- 
thing respecting the time, which it would be expedient to have 
in view, for effecting a total removal of the evil. It is a vei^y 
general complaint, as far as my experience reaches, that, in 
country parts, where the free coloured population is in the vici- 
nity of slaves, the latter are much given to stealing for the for- 
mer. To those who suffer in this way, a total removal of the 
evil of slavery is a natural object. The time of which I have 
thought for the final removal of it, was the next jubilee day, or 
4th of July 1878, about 60 years hence, and 1 should wish the 
Congress elected the present jubilee year, commencing 41h of 
July, 1826, at their first session to meet the latter end of 1327, 
to make a beginning, by some appropriation for the purpose, 
quite willing to submit the amount to their own wisdom, which 
indeed must determine it. And though any considerable dimi- 
nution of the evil would certainly be an object, yet measures ought 
to be taken to effect in some given time a total removal of it; 
of which more hereafter. 

The holders of this species of property onjl.it nottol*e alarm- 



ed at any adeiupl of Congress to remove or duninisL (he evil, 
as it is I bolieve unquestionable, and universally adiuitteii, that 
Coni^res'i h;\s no power to inter(f>re, unless by fair and voluntary 
purchase; or which would amount to the same tlilns;, by c;ivin^ 
such a premium, to those liberating; slaves for the purpose of 
-colonization, as would be accepted by a sufficient number; ex- 
cept in the district of Columbia, where Congress has exclusive 
legislation, but from motives of delicacy, could not be expected 
to attempt to remove or dimini<;h the evil, in any other way than 
as above, inasmucli as the inhabitants of that district, have no 
share in the election of the meuibers of Congress. 

SIDNEY, 



3^0. &2. 



I come now to consider, what is the obligation or du(y of 
Congress, in endeavouring to elFect a removal or diminution of 
slavery in the United States, [t seems to be very generally admit- 
ted, that it ought to be undertaken at some time, though many 
suppose not at present. I think it has been abundantly shewn 
in this essay, that the funds of the United States, are at this time 
adequate to the purchase and colonization of such a number, as 
would in the course of thirty or forty vears very much diminish 
the evil, which ought surely to be considered a very great object, 
as it would diminish the danger as well as other evils arising 
from it. Let it be considered, that the longer the business is de- 
ferred, the more tedious, expensive and difficult it will be, as from 
the table at page '23, it appears, that the present annual increase 
of that population, is nearly forty-five thousand, and by the 
year 1340, will exceed sixty thousand, if something be not done 
in the mean time to arrest this increase. IVor do I perceive any 
just reason to suppose, that th» opposition to the measure is like 
to diminish by deferring, but rather, as the amount of this kind 
of property will be increasing, that the attachment to it will in- 
crease likewise. If therefore it be expedient, that the thing 
should be begun at all, the sooner the better. 

In order then to a correct vievv of the power of Congress in 
this business, it will be proper, to observe the powers given to 
Congress by the constitution, among which is that "to provide 
tor the general welfare of the United States, and to make all 
laws which shall be necessary and proper, for carrying into ex- 
ecution all powers vested by that constitution in the government 
of the United States, or la any department or olKcer thereof." 



i7 

hupossible as it uianifestlj was, for the framers of the con-? 
stitation, to foresee all the cases, ulierein Congress inig;ht be 
railed on, to provide for the general welfare of the United States, 
they have, by that instrument, confided (hat power to them. 
The question then with every member of Congress, in order to 
determine what is his duty, should be: Is the measure of remo- 
ving or diniinishing slavery in the mode proposed- for the gen- 
eral welfare of the United States? In discussiug this question, I 
shall consider the welfare. 

First, of the slave holders. 

Secondly, of the free population who are not slave holders. 

Thirdly, of the slaves. And 

Fourthly and lastly, of the whole nation of the United States. 

Such various, interesting and apparently conflicting inter- 
ests, are intrusted in our legislators in Congress, whose duty it is, 
carefully and conscientiously to consult the interests of the whole 
of them. And 

First. Let us consider, how far the welfare of the slave hold- 
ers themselves would be affected by the measure This is a 
very delicate subject. It is I believe almost universally con- 
ceded, that Congress has no power to affect the legal title of this 
class of citizens to their slaves, unless by their voluntary consent, 
either by purchasing them for the purpose of colonization, or 
which would perhaps be the more delicate mode, by giving to 
those who would transfer to the United States, such as are sound 
in body and mind, for that purpose, such premiums, according to 
their age, as would be voluntarily accepted; wb'ich business 
might be managed through the agency of the marshals of the 
United States. Nor, even if our legislators had the power of af- 
fecting their title to them in any other way, than by voluntary 
agreement on the part of the holders, do I think it ought to 
be exercised; especially as it must be manifest from what has 
been said, that the funds of the nation are abundantly sufficient 
for removing the evi! as fast as it would be expedient to do it. — 
I know, there is a class of people, who think that no respect 
svhatever should be had to the title of the holders, arguing that 
liberty being a natural right to the slave, no just title can be had 
to his labor, unless by his own consent, or as a punishment for 
the transgression of some known law. Had this principle been 
observed by those who first originated slavery, the evil would 
not have existed. But to attempt to apply it in its full extent, 
in the present dtuation of the United States, would destroy all 



S3 

QkTiler. 'i'he slave, as it is, is entitleJ to comfortable food and 
raiment for his labor, which is as much as uneducated freg labor- 
ers can generally obtain thereby. I do not consider it impor- 
tant in the present case, to enter into the abstract question, as I 
am notnowaddressmglhe holders but ihe legislators, and what- 
ever may be the views of the former, the obligation of the latter to 
respect their title to this species of property, appears to me 
tmquestionable. It has been guaranteed to "them by the State 
governments, recognized by the constitution of the United States^ 
which grants to the states to which they belong, three fifths of 
the representation to- which an equal number of free persons 
would entitle them. Congress is in the habit of paying the hold- 
ers for property of this kind lost in their service. The govern- 
ment of Great Britain had to pay our government $I,204,96§ 
for property, nearly the whole slaves, taken from oar citizens 
during the late war; which would be the price of upwards of four 
thousand of them, rating them at !^300 each. 

The proportion to be colonized from each of the slave holding 
states, might be regulated by that of the slave population of 
those states by the census. I have no doubt a greater number of 
the holders would wish to sell, than the appropriation which would 
be judged expedient could accommodate, in whchcase the ear- 
liest applicants would seem entiled to a preference; but should 
it so happen, that the number in any one or more states should 
not be sufficient to absorb their respective appropriations, the 
overplus might the ensuing year be divided among those states, 
which received their full appropriations the preceding year. — 
And if a sufficient number did not at all come forward, the injury- 
done would be nothing, as the part of the appropriation not ap- 
plied would remain in the treasury; and in any case, no injury 
would be done to the holders, as any thing done in the business 
would on their part be entirely voluntary. 

SIDNEY. 



7S!^. 13. 



The second thing proposed to be considered was, liow the wel- 
fare of the free population who are not slave holders would be 
affected. So mnch has already been said, in a former number, 
on this subject, that it seems entirely unnecessary to enlarge on 
i't here, It is manifest, that ail the labour performed by slaves, 



would, if there were none, become employment, and of course 
furnish the means of iivetihood for free persons; and that, if 
instead of (he slaves, there ^vas an equally numerous free popula- 
tion, they would, hy their industry and exertions, provide them- 
selves generally with much greater comforts, than could be ex- 
pected in a state of slavery, and of course would furnish much 
more employment to farmers, mechanics, merchants, and In sho?t 
to persons of all professions. 

To estimate the extent of interest under this head, I was in- 
duced to make a rough calculation of the proportion of the non- 
slave holdihg to the slave holding white population in the slave 
holding states, estimating the number of slave holders from the 
number of slaves by the census of 1820, on the supposition that 
the average numbev owned by each, was ten; and the number 
of white persons who have to make their living by industry or 
otherwise, by supposing one half of the white population by the 
same census, come to maturity; and taking the half of that, for 
the number of married couples and other "males or females who 
have to provide for themselves; on which supposition I found in 
the most slave holding state, the proportion of the non-slave hold- 
ing to the slave holding white population, about as four to three j 
in three others, nearly as two to one; in three others, nearly as 
four to one; and in all the others, the proportion considerably 
greater. 

The third head mentioned, was the welfare of the slaves; on 
which it is unnecessary to enlarge, as the hardship to them and 
the violation of their natural rights is scarcely disputed by any. 
Let our legislators in Congress reflect, that their concerns al' 
are intrusted to them, and that there is hardly a hope, that ei- 
ther they or their posterity will for a long time be relieved from 
this severe and unnatural state of bondage, from any other 
source. 

The fourth and last head mentioned, was the welfare of the 
nation of the United States in a political capacity. On this head 
so much have been said in the fourth number of this essay, and 
the political evils of slavery are so universally admitted, that it 
would seem to be a waste of words, to enlarge more on this 
subject. 

From what has been said, it must b«? very manifest, that the 
removal or diminution of slavery would be "for the general wel- 
fare of the United States, and its inhabitants, with the exception 
of the slave holders; and of them too, provided they received a 
I'casonable recompense for the privation they would sasfain by 






the measure; fi'orr. all wlilcli the duly of Congress in tars liusi- 
ness is easily infftf'fod. • 

And though Congress can of themselves do nothing towards 
removing this evil, unless by voluntary contract with the holders 
of this kind of property; yet if ever that species of population, bv 
the above propo^sed or any other means, should become small 
enough for the purpose, an alteration of the constitution wi2;ht be 
made, by the concurrence of two thirds of both houses of Con- 
jjress, and three fourths of the state?, which would limit the period 
of its existence; such recompense being given to the holders of 
Ibis kind of properly, according to the age and other circumstan- 
ces of the slav's. as woulJ be thought reasonable, and vvouW be 
accepted by a sufficient number of the states. 

The principle proposed in this tract of diminishing or removing 
slavery from among us, by buying up and conlonizing them, is 
by no means new. It has been strongly advocated lately by 
Mr. King of New-York, and Mr. Fitziiugh of Yirginia. The 
following resolution by the Council and General Assembly ol 
New-Jersey, publisiied in the 8th annual report of the Coloniza- 
tion Society, is full to the purpose. " Resolved^ That, in the 
opinion of this Legislature; a system of foreign colonization 
^vith correspondent measures, might be adopted, that would in 
due time effect the entire emancipation of the slaves in our 
country, and furnish an asylum for the free blacks, without any 
violation of the national compact, or infringement of the rights of 
indivitluals; and that such a system should be predicated upon 
the principle, that the evil of slavery is a national one, and that 
the People and the States of this Union ought mutually to par- 
ticipate in the duties and burthens of removing it.'* 

I have Ions: thought, thrit the chief thing which has prevented 
exertions being made, by the General Government, for the remo- 
val of -slavery in the United States, was the idea, that it was too 
great a work for the finances of the nation, consistently with the 
claim«; of individuals. On examination T was convineed, that the 
contrary was the fact; and it appeared to me to be a duty, to lay 
before the public calculations, which might convince them of 
the feasibility of the measure. I shall now dismiss the subject, 
hoping that some persons, zealous in the cause, and of greater 
leisure, will take it up, and continue it so, that a gradual diminu- 
ilon in, and final removal of the evil from, our country, maybe 
.^fTected. 

SIDNEY 



